World / IN BRIEF : SWITZERLAND

Marcos Funds to Be Returned to Nation

More than $500 million in assets belonging to the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos may soon be on their way back to the Philippines. In a landmark decision, the Swiss high court ruled that the funds in Swiss bank accounts should be returned to his homeland. The court ruling upheld a 1995 order by Zurich prosecutors that the banks transfer the Marcos millions to an escrow account in the Philippines to await a final decision by courts there on who should get the cash. Rival claims to the funds have been staked in courts in the Philippines, Europe and the U.S. by Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos' government, victims of the Marcos regime and Marcos' family.